"In this impressive synthesis, Gray brings, in a largely nontechnical way, the technical development of mathematics from the 1880s to the 1930s into the broader historical analysis of the concept of modernity. His argument promises not only to challenge historians of mathematics but also, finally, to bring mathematics into wider discussions of cultural history."--Karen Hunger Parshall, author of James Joseph Sylvester: Jewish Mathematician in a Victorian World

"A major addition to scholarship in the history of mathematics and in the history of science in general. Gray throws light on a major cultural transformation of mathematics. The book is written for a large readership of historians of science, philosophers, and scientists. It will have repercussions in broader debates on scientific culture, and will remain a reference work for many years to come."--Moritz Epple, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University

Jeremy Gray is professor of the history of mathematics and director of the Centre for the History of the Mathematical Sciences at the Open University. His books include Worlds Out of Nothing and János Bolyai, Non-Euclidean Geometry, and the Nature of Space.